Red Devils fall at home to Lyons Township

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By Matt Le Cren

Opposing players try to intimidate her. Her teammates adore her. Her coaches marvel at her.

As for opposing coaches? They wish she’d disappear.

Lyons defender Ari Kowalski is usually the smallest player on the field, but she never goes unnoticed.

The sophomore estimates she weighs “about 100, maybe 110” pounds, which may be an overestimate. But there is no underestimating the impact Kowalski has on the field.

She demonstrated that again Tuesday, playing her usual rock-solid defense and setting up a goal with an electrifying run up the middle of the field to lead the Lions to a 2-0 West Suburban Conference Silver Division victory over rival Hinsdale Central in Hinsdale.

“Especially for a sophomore, she plays with so much confidence and just makes a huge difference,” said LT stopper Elise Gordon. “She’s such a solid player and I think a lot of people underestimate her maybe because of her size, but it honestly makes no difference. She’s just as strong as a lot of those bigger players. She’s a dangerous player.”

And not just on the back line, where she teamed with Gordon, Sarah Mazur and Emma Meyering to help goalie Maggie Orlowski, who had to make only three saves, record her 11th shutout.

With the Lions (12-2-1, 3-0) clinging to a 1-0 lead midway through the second half, Kowalski controlled a loose ball just shy of midfield and sprinted 35 yards up the field as the Red Devils tried in vain to catch her.

Kowalski had freshman Emily Lange making a run on the right wing and sophomore Abbie Pasquinelli doing the same on the left. She chose to feed Pasquinelli with a perfect lead pass into the box, and Pasquinelli fired a 15-yard shot under the crossbar with 20:05 remaining.

“I just got the ball and I didn’t feel like anyone was following me so I just started going as fast as I can and I just looked up and found Abbie,” Kowalski said. “Lange was making a good run too, but Ab just had the one step further on the girl. It was a great finish.”

It also put to rest any realistic chance of a Hinsdale Central comeback, though the Lions knew better than to let up.

“The goal] took some pressure off but we never want to completely lay back, so we were still staying strong back there,” Kowalski said.

While Gordon and Mazur, a junior who has already committed to Miami of Ohio, are well-known stalwarts in the back, Kowalski may eventually be even better. Lyons assistant coach Andy Newcomb calls Kowalski a beast, which may seem incongruous given her small size but not to those who watch her play.

Kowalski consistently wins challenges and collisions with bigger, more seasoned players and whatever her weight is, it’s made up of 50 percent heart and 50 percent determination.

“I try not to let people push me around,” Kowalski said. “I know I always have it coming because they think I’m tiny, but I just try to stay tough on the ball.

“I like it back there. My place is just to do my best and stay strong back there, but as a team I think we’re doing really well this year playing together.”

Indeed, the Lions have been tough to score on this year, surrendering only seven goals, three of which came in a 4-3 win over Naperville North.

“(The Red Devils) had a couple of opportunities and we had to be aware of their speed up top, but our backs did a great job,” Lyons head coach Bill Lanspeary said. “Mazur just cleans everything up for us. She’s sort of unsung, not a whole lot of notoriety, but we notice she’s doing a heckuva job. She plays with great poise and really settles things for us in the back.”

The host Red Devils (6-7-2, 1-2) were able to muster only five shots, though sophomore Jenn Jarmy and senior Mary Cefaratti both were dangerous at times. Cefaratti had Central’s best scoring chance with 8:00 left in the first half when Lily Chetosky stole the ball and passed to her in the box, but Gordon muscled Cefaratti off the ball.

“I think Jarmy added some punch for us,” Hinsdale Central coach Skip Begley said. “She’s just a sophomore. I think sometimes her speed gets ahead of her skill, but I think her energy was good for us today. She got to a lot of balls, caused some problems.

“We just got off to a bad start. You’ve barely sat down and you’re down 1-0. Then after that we hung in there for a while, didn’t generate a lot of offense, but the defense was solid and they weren’t, I think, as dangerous as they were at the beginning, so you can’t have everything when you’re struggling like we are against the better teams.”

With the game being played on Central’s grass soccer field, the Lions figured to have a challenging time on the slow track, but that wasn’t the case.

Gordon put the Lions on the board just 2:29 into the contest when she blasted a 30-yard shot through the teeth of a biting wind and into the upper left corner of the net. It was Gordon’s third goal of the season, all of which have come on long-range attempts.

“Definitely knowing that I can put it in from there has given me a lot more confidence and so I’m more relaxed when I take that shot,” Gordon said. “I’m just looking to get open more there.”

The early goal against the wind took on more importance for the Lions when they weren’t able to add to their lead despite controlling much of the action in the first half, outshooting Central 9-1 before the break.

“You always want to score within the first five minutes and just kind of set the tempo and send a message, so I think it was good for us to get a goal early on,” Gordon said. “At the same time, though, it’s always good to have a little bit more urgency and I think sometimes getting a goal that early, we tend to back off a little bit.

“We didn’t finish our chances like we would have liked to and they came out very hard in the second half and put a lot more pressure on us, so we kind of had to deal with that. So it was great to get the goal (thanks to) Ari stepping up and making that nice play.”

Overlooked in the Lyons victory was the play of the Red Devils’ defense, which despite being under quite a bit of pressure did a solid job. The starting unit of senior Jackie Gutman, junior Lauren Shroyer and sophomores Casey May and Caitlin Smith held Lions star Kelsey Holbert to only one shot.

“I think we did a good job on Holbert,” Begley said. “She got loose every once and a while but you can’t cover a good player the whole game. Sooner or later she’s going to find her spot.”

All seven of the Red Devils’ losses and one of their ties have come against top teams and the schedule doesn’t get any easier with Naperville Invitational consolation matches Thursday against Wheaton North (7-6-1) and Friday against 2010 Class 2A state runner-up Saint Viator (7-6), followed by a league contest next Tuesday at York (7-3-1,3-0).

“I hate to say it, we’re 6-7-2, but I still think we’re decent and still have a chance to get better, so we’re working at it,” Begley said. “We still have high expectations. Nobody from our group walks out on to the field saying we’re happy to lose 1-0 or 2-0.”